Every so often, the world of exotic cars produces something that makes you scratch your heads, and here’s the latest example: Ferrari is rolling out two new extended warranty programs for its electrified cars, and these service contracts come with something you wouldn’t expect — a brand new battery pack at the eight-year and sixteen-year marks, respectively. I’m not kidding. Here it is, in Ferrari’s own words:
Owners of a Prancing Horse PHEV already enjoy a five-year warranty on the hybrid components and if they choose the Warranty Extension Hybrid programme, not only will they avail themselves of a factory-backed, all-inclusive extended warranty that covers the entire car, but if they extend the warranty up to the eighth year, Ferrari will replace the high-voltage battery pack (HVB) at no extra cost.
The new Power Hybrid allows clients instead to extend the factory warranty on all major powertrain components, including those related to the hybrid system, from year 8 to year 16, and again foresees the replacement, at no extra cost, of the high-voltage battery pack (HVB) in year 16.
Even if a norman bumper-to-bumper extended warranty on an expensive and stereotypically fragile exotic car makes sense, the high-voltage part of the equation makes us scratch our heads a little. In theory, the peace-of-mind that comes with a guaranteed new battery pack every eight years sounds great, but it’s worth asking why it’s necessary in the first place.
According to Automotive News, each warranty program costs around €7,000 per year, or €56,000 over the course of eight years. That’s expensive, but it’s also not bad considering two years of extended powertrain warranty coverage on an SF90 hybrid supercar costs $14,500, plus the cost of an inspection. However, how likely is it for a battery pack to fail within eight years? Most Ferraris aren’t daily drivers, so they won’t see the same sort of charging and discharging cycle frequency as say, a Toyota Prius Prime or a Hyundai Tucson plug-in hybrid. It’s exceptionally rare for the high-voltage battery pack on a regular plug-in hybrid to fail within eight years [Ed Note: I’ve had it happen on my i3 after nine years, but it had 130,000 miles on it, and it’s got 2014 battery tech. -DT], and it’s even less likely for the battery pack on an exotic plug-in hybrid that’ll likely see a few thousand miles a year at most to fail within the same timespan.
Alright, so is there another reason Ferrari would want to update the battery packs every eight years? Well, it certainly isn’t related to performance upgrades. Ferrari claims “Both programmes guarantee clients that, in case of future developments in battery technology, the replacement HVB will be a new, state-of-the-art component that will ensure the same performance as the original one.” So, even with advancements in battery technology, the replacement packs will perform the same as the original packs? Wow, what a great selling point. [Ed Note: I wonder if maybe they mean “at least as well as the original”? That’s not what they said, of course, but you’d expect new batteries to at least perform a little better, if only in terms of degradation or weight or even charge rate. -DT]
While the promise of guaranteed replacement battery packs for a fixed servicing plan price might make sense if you’re a frequent trackday driver pushing a hybrid Ferrari to the ragged edge, for most owners of SF90s and 296 GTBs, a fresh battery pack every eight years just seems wasteful. Moreover, it doesn’t send a great message to suggest that a car might need a new battery pack every two presidential terms or so. Are the built-in buffers that razor-thin? Is substantial performance degradation expected over eight years? It all just makes you want to cock an eyebrow.
(Photo credits: Ferrari)
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Batteries do not last forever, even if they are used infrequently, 8 years seems like a long time. I know its totally different technology but I replace my lead acid batteries every 5 years without regard to how many miles are on them.
Maybe it’s about them using lightweight (read highly strung) batteries?
If owners expect (and more importantly accept) Ferrari batteries to have a short lifespan then all of this doesnt look so weird.
it’s a way for ferrari to sell you a “subscription” to something.. Also sunk cost falicy it will try and force the buyer to keep the car/subscription going for the full 8 years so they do not “waste” any of that subscription money. After Ferrari replaces the battery the resale value will go way up so that’s the win for the customer…
Not gonna buy the battery warranty.
56K will put a big hole in my coke and hookers budget.
Dear Sir and/or Madame;
Upon review of your internet history, our sales department must politely must decline your business. We are certain you understand that the Ferrari nameplate is intended for individuals with a certain cachet, and that associating the Cavallino Rampante with anything less would be injurious to our brand.
While perhaps made in jest, the suggestion that your cocaine & escort budget would be diminished by the expenditure of a mere USD56,000 indicates a budget-consciousness that would make other Ferrari owners uncomfortable.
May we suggest you would be happier with an automobile more suited to your station, such as a Dacia, Maruti-Suzuki, or Lamborghini?
Do not contact us again,
Yours truly,
Ferrari Società Esercizio Fabbriche Automobili e Corse S.p.A.
Because Ferraris used as everyday drivers are few and far between.
EVs that sit and languish in garages – whether plugged in or not – will see their batteries deteriorate far, far faster than one that’s used every day.
Just like the laptop you never unplug during use, then when you take it out in an appointment- – and you wonder why its half-dead in 30 minutes when it is supposed to have an 8 hour life.
Heck – even the 12V batteries in ICE cars will die from disuse – which is why Ferrari, Bentley, Lamborghini, Porsche, etc, will gladly sell you a battery conditioner for your new rare and exotic flash-bang-driven garage queen.
Ferrari is just taking the “HOW MUCH WILL IT COST TO REPLACE MY PRANCING HORSE BATTERY IN 8 YEARS?!?” question away from potential buyers.
i tried to give you 13 likes, but you might have gotten 1
I think the answer lies in the past. There are examples both Ferrari laFerrari and Mclaren P1 owners being stung for huge costs on replacement batteries on both cars. This happened because the cars were left on trickle chargers and for whatever reason the trickle chargers failed and were not reset. This caused the batteries to fail bricking the cars. I’ve heard different charges ranging from $60,000 – $250,000 for replacement batteries.
Obviously, battery technology has moved on in the last ten years but even so the memory of this might still be in the mind of potentially the exact same buyers.
Also worth noting that Ferraris strong resale is directly linked to their introducing the best warranties in the super/ hyper car field.
This protects resale values, while generating profit. It’s a no-brainier for the manufacturer, and the only reason for the customer not to do it is because they think $56,000 is a lot of money, so I assume they weren’t buying Ferrari anyway.
I’m worried everyone else will do it. It’s a stealth battery subscription.
Exactly. But would you rather stand on the top of a battery powered boat while it sinks, or just jump into the water by the shark? /s
We have an election in the UK tomorrow and I have seven candidates to choose from, which are basically: sinking EV boat, shark, Sinking EV shark, EV boat on fire, sinking shark, man-eating EV boat and shark-boat.
Good luck!
Thanks!
The whole of the UK is basically four sinking EV boats tied together with sharks at this point, so the inevitably terrible new government can’t do much additional harm, whoever they turn out to be.
I don’t think this is hard to explain. Ferrari is about to release a full EV coupe within a year or so. According to Reuters, the $7500 per year will also a be available for the EV.
The thing is, once that Ferrari EV releases, the recurring maintenance costs will drop significantly. The well known regular (annual?) $10,000+ oil changes will cease to be required. Dropping the engine for any maintenance will also disappear. Electric motors are super robust – you never hear about EV’s failing because the motors failed. (I’m sure it has happened, but it is so rare to not be a talking point for those that are anti-EV.)
Other parts are obviously expensive in a Ferrari, but the horror stories I’ve read about Ferrari costs typically revolve around the gas motor maintenance/repairs/rebuilds. That goes away with an EV.
Finally, the wildly expensive cost of brake rotor replacement will drop as well. EV motor braking makes your unobtanium rotors and brake pads last a LOT longer.
Without that revenue a lot of Ferrari dealers will see huge drop in maintenance revenue for the full EV models.
By introducing a $7500/year fee they are keeping the cash flow coming in. I would bet that the dealer signing up a customer battery replacement plan will get a nice cut of that $7500 each year.
I don’t know about the rest of the world but here in Aus new Ferraris come with 7 year servicing included
I regrettably have zero personal experience with Ferrari. But a quick look at Ferrari Canada and there is zero mention of free maintenance? I figure they might mention that on their website? 7 years maintenance would add a lot to the up front cost of Ferrari I suspect.
Pretty spot on assessment. Plus it give the old guys who can afford a Ferrari warm fuzzies about owning a car with a battery.
My 71 year old mother wouldn’t even drive my sisters model 3, because it was electric. Like somehow driving it to the store would be some wildly different thing than a gas car.
Translation: If you need a new battery after 16 years, good luck.
How valuable would a Ferrari Testarossa be today if it needed a part that failed due to age and you can’t get replacements anymore? That’s something that should be considered when buying an exotic car with EV or hybrid components. A Nissan Leaf is an appliance. A Countach is an investment.
Cost of repair (combined with relatively high production numbers and maybe some dated styling until it became cool again, but the Testarossa isn’t alone by any means in that value curve) is a big reason they were fairly cheap for awhile. When cars like that go up in value later, they start getting restored. Really valuable cars get restored even if things are bespoke. Something like a battery isn’t really that difficult for someone to build (unless maybe they’re going to be taken apart to be inspected by some concours nerd, though I wonder if modern packs with the sam external appearance and original performance will be an acceptable change, like allowing safety glass on cars that predate it). I’d be more concerned about the complicated electronics that even the ICE cars have.
[Ed Note: I’ve had it happen on my i3 after nine years, but it had 130,000 miles on it, and it’s got 2014 battery tech. -DT]
It seems a little misleading whenever you mention you happened to have a battery that failed. It implies that it happens more often than it does. You intentionally sought out the cheapest i3 in the US and bought it because it was one of the ones that failed. That’s different than the implication that you bought a random i3 and it failed so maybe it happens more often than you think.
Looking at the oft-cited recurrent study, it looks like about 13% of evs made before 2015 have had batteries replaced. Maybe not a ton, but not nothing.
What I’m curious about is how that compares to a benchmark car. What % of cars build 9-13 years ago are written off? I found a study (statistical estimation of trends in scrappage and survival of us light duty vehicles) that makes me guess general scrappage rates for 2011 cars would be around 10% ish, with newer cars having lower rates.
Long way of saying, maybe batteries don’t fail at that different of a rate than everything else in an old car. And the fact that DT found a failed battery and brought the car back to life doesn’t tell us much more than the fact that he found an old jeep and got it to Moab.
Just seems like typical crazy rich people type of thing to me.
“So, even with advancements in battery technology, the replacement packs will perform the same as the original packs?”
They probably don’t want to suggest “improved performance” because a customer might take that to mean something more than reduced weight or faster charging, and get a lawyer involved.
Some batteries don’t respond well to sitting without going through a discharge-charge cycle on a regular basis. Maybe they’re expecting some garage queen batteries to go bad.
It also depends how the car is stored for long term reliability of the HV Battery. But knowing Ferrari owners, is not like the car will be sitting outside at all.
A friend owns 3 Ferraris. Despite having a 6 bay garage, they all sit and live outside.
I don’t know why.
But you should see the paint and interiors after 3 years of 110 degree temps for the summer months.
We are talking about $750,000 dollars worth of cars here.
Some folks are just nuts.
At some point an advanced battery might be able to deliver the same performance at a small fraction of the weight, improving the overall performance of the car (which I think is where the editor’s note was pointing).
Zero mystery. Ferraris that are unsellable or extremely discounted due to the cost of a battery pack replacement tarnish the brand. This is going to happen to non prestige brands, and Ferrari cannot take that risk. High end EVs like the BMW i8 have already tanked in the auction market, and Ferrari is well aware of the auction market for their cars as high auction prices further the desirability of the marque.
For example, take the BMW X5 PHEV. Last time I checked, BMW only warranties the battery pack for 8 years. A replacement battery pack costs $35,000.
The first buyer who more than likely leases doesn’t care.
The second buy who buys it with a CPO warranty and also likely leases, doesn’t care.
The third buyer, if there even is one, is the biggest loser.
Who in their right mind would buy this BMW at seven years old, when facing a possible a $35,000 battery replacement? The third buyer might be convinced that the battery will last 10-12 years, but that is a huge and risky bet. You would be buying a ticking time bomb, and I believe most people would look elsewhere if they knew the replacement battery cost.
Ferrari is filled with great engineers, they have told management about battery life, and are just trying to mitigate risk.
Perhaps this is a way to retain resale value? As long as the warranty is transferrable (and I assume it is) then a potential buyer down the road will not be deterred by the cost of a new battery, nor will the seller have to offer a discount.
Because, you see, before YOU had $56,000, now THEY have $56,000.
The first year probably covers the cost of the battery, the next 7 cover the privilege of giving them your money.
This smells of wanting to placate the people that say ” well I don’t want the hybrid because the battery will just be toast in 8 years.” Now they can sell to these people, and gain even more profit on this warranty.
This warranty made me think of when I was shopping for a grill. There is a company out there (Z Grills) that will sell you 1 grill, for 2x as much as it normally costs for 1 grill, but you get 10 replacement grills, one every 5 years for the next 50. There comes a point where I can no longer trust the quality of your product if you are already scheduling replacements.
Also, if the grills need replacement that often, how would I even expect them to be around in 50 years. I’ll be lucky if I’m around in 50 years.
EDIT: I just looked and it appears this is not the normal business model for them but a special promo. They are selling a limited quantity of these that entitle you to a free replacement every five years. I’m guessing they do this for any sort of holiday sale to drive up business? Looks like they have plenty of normal priced options that don’t include free replacement.
Yes there is a “timer” on the website, but so far I have noticed that it expires every week, and its back up there again for another week.
The price probably seems reasonable for those customers accustomed to mid engine Ferrari repair bills.
If you have to ask the price, you can’t afford it.
Not a coincidence that the term is the same as the term that Ferrari will be forced to warranty the battery for by upcoming (or maybe already in force?) regs. They likely already know the batteries won’t pass the capacity test after that time. If you refuse to sell to anyone who doesn’t also buy the battery subscription, you can dodge that cost.
It’s just like their already existing service package, it’s a challenge to actually drive the cars, which most owners don’t, so the winner is Ferrari taking home extra pure profit margin.
“Even if a norman bumper-to-bumper extended warranty”
Is this supposed to be normal?
I dunno, maybe its the new Top-Tier extended warranty package at your local mega-deal-group-from-hell. Now you’ve got, in ascending order, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond and Norman coverage. Wherein Norman Coverage is their senior tech who will get sent out to wherever your car has a problem and field fix it on the spot. Some say Norman can be a bit grumpy at times, but you can’t beat on-the-spot repairs!
It does include hotel coverage if you’re out of town if it breaks down on a road trip. but otherwise it’s just another bates-and-switch.
Doesn’t seem normal to me. Then again, not much is around here.
“It’s considered extremely fashionable merely to be on the list for a battery”-Ferrari, probably
It’s another good way to weed out people who aren’t deemed worthy of buying the next one.
“Not buying the battery warranty? It might be tough to get you on the list for our all new LaEnzo”